CAF selected to manufacture 26 5-module Light Rail Vehicles units for the Purple Line Project in Maryland, USA

Beasain, Spain, 29-Jun-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — CAF has been selected to manufacture 26 5-module Light Rail Vehicles (LRV) units for the Purple Line Project located in Maryland, USA. This contract includes capital spares, special tools and test equipment, and it will be managed by the company’s subsidiary CAF USA, Inc. The contract value exceeds USD 200 million for the supply of rolling stock. Additionally, CAF USA participates with a 20% share in the company that will manage the operation and maintenance of the Light Rail System for 30 years. Passenger service is scheduled for early 2022.

The Purple Line is a Private Public Partnership (P3) Project to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Purple Line with a United States Dollar (USD) value of 5.6 billion, including the construction valued at USD 2 billion and is one of the largest public transit project contracts ever granted in the USA.

The Purple Line is a light rail line that will extend from Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George’s County. It will provide direct connections to the Washington Metro Red, Orange and Green Lines, in addition to connections to MARC and AMTRAK commuter lines and local bus routes. A total of 21 stations have been planned along the 16.2-mile route, providing safe and rapid light rail transit in Maryland.

CAF USA will manufacture the LRVs for the Purple Line at its plant in Elmira, New York, USA, this plant was also used for a good number of its U.S. projects in the last few years. Highlights of the CAF USA’s projects are the 96 units for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 40 Light Trains for the California Capital of Sacramento, and projects for the manufacturing of 28 new light trains and the refurbishment of 55 existing trains for PAAC in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

At present, CAF is manufacturing 130 passenger cars for Amtrak and LRV units for Boston’s MBTA. It has also recently completed the delivery of LRV units for Houston Metro and Streetcars for Cincinnati, OH and Kansas City, MO.

All in all, this new contract adds to a total value of projects undertaken by CAF in the USA close to USD 1.8 billion.

NEW PROJECT IN AUSTRALIA

In addition to this contract, CAF has also secured a recent agreement with Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) for the supply of 6 trams that will operate on a new network that will be constructed in the Australian city of Newcastle, the delivery of which is planned for 2018. This project builds on the project previously developed by CAF for the same customer under which 12 trams were supplied for the neighbouring city of Sydney that are currently in revenue service.

These trams are part of the URBOS tram family and combine modern aesthetics with cutting-edge equipment and maximum accessibility without compromising comfort, performance and ease of operation, as well as  maintenance. Vehicles of this platform already operate in countries such as Germany, Brazil, United States, France, United Kingdom, Hungary, Serbia, Sweden and Taiwan.

Thus, these two new contracts increase the backlog of the Company by approximately €200 million.

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